The second edition of the WPL could take place in February-March next year. "Out of 165 players, 104 are Indians and 61 are overseas cricketers of which 15 are from associate nations. The total capped players are 56, uncapped players are 109," BCCI said in a release on Saturday. "A maximum of 30 slots are available with the five teams, with 9 spots for overseas players."

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Interestingly, it was the 27-year-old Garth who had replaced Dottin in the Gujarat Giants squad, who later released the Aussie in the off-season. Garth chose to be in the top bracket with the highest reserve price of Rs 50 lakh. West Indian all-rounder Deandra Dottin has been controversially excluded on medical grounds by Gujarat Giants.

Aussie all-rounders Annabel Sutherland and Georgia Wareham, English wicket-keeper Amy Jones, and South African pacer Shabnim Ismail are the only four players to be slotted with a base price of Rs 40 lakh.

The five franchises -- Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Giants, UP Warriorz, and Royal Challengers Bangalore have 30 slots available with nine reserved for overseas players. A total of 60 players, including 21 foreigners, were retained by the five teams.

The Giants will have the biggest salary cap available to fill in 10 slots, while Delhi Capitals will enter the auction with a purse of Rs 2.25 crore. Defending champions Mumbai Indians have Rs 2.1 crore to fill five slots, while Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to pick seven players with a purse of Rs 3.35 crores and UP Warriorz will have Rs 4 crore purse to fill five spots at the auction.

BCCI announced the player list for the upcoming WPL 2025 Auction. 120 players are on the list, among which 91 are Indian and 29 overseas cricketers, including 3 from Associate Nations.

The Women's Premier League (WPL) Auction 2025 will take place on 15th December 2024 in Bengaluru. The are 82 Indian uncapped players and 8 uncapped overseas players in the auction list.

With most of the franchises holding their core group of players, 19 slots will be up for grabs, with 5 slots reserved for overseas players.

Only 3 players were listed in the bracket of the highest base price of INR 50 lakhs while 28 players will be auctioned starting with their base price of INR 30 lakhs. 

West Indian all-rounder Deandra Dottin, England batter Heather Knight, and South African wicket-keeper batter Lizelle Lee will enter the auction with the highest base price of INR 50 lakhs.

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In the first set of 20 marquee players, Australia's Darcie Brown and Kim Garth, England's Lauren Bell and Sarah Glenn and India's Sneh Rana can go for big bucks during the WPL 2025 auction.

From the Cricket Association of Bengal, only two players have been able to make it to the list. Priyanka Bala, who was already with the Mumbai Indians squad, has found herself on the list. Along with her, young all-rounder Sushmita Ganguly will also be auctioned with a base price of INR 10 lakhs.

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Breakdown of 120 players in the WPL auction list

WPL 2025 Reatined players' list

Full list of players listed for the WPL 2025 Auction

A stand at the iconic Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata will soon be named after India's legendary fast bowler Jhulan Goswami. 

According to ICC, the Block B Gallery of Eden Gardens will be renamed in her honor. This stand will be inaugurated during the Indian women's team's first T20I match against England on January 22 next year.

Also Read: 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup stats: Most Wickets and Everything

Stands have also been built at Eden Gardens in the names of former Indian captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, former Indian cricketer Pankaj Roy, and former BCCI presidents Jagmohan Dalmiya and Biswanath Dutt.

Highest wicket-taker in women's ODI

Jhulan Goswami retired two years ago after an illustrious 20-year career with the Indian women's team. She was considered one of the best fast bowlers in women's cricket. Her career is still reflected in the impressive record that she maintains even after her retirement. Goswami holds the record for taking the highest number of wickets (255) in women's ODI.

Jhulan Goswami ended her career after appearing in 12 Tests, 204 ODIs and 68 T20Is and taking 355 wickets across all formats. In the women's Test format, Goswami has taken 44 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 17.36 and an economy of 2.02.

Goswami has 56 wickets to her name in the women's T20I format, with an average of 21.94 and an economy of 5.45. In the ODI format, she has taken 255 wickets in 204 matches at an average of 22.04.

Also Read: All the ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup winners

Working as bowling coach of MI

The 41-year-old Goswami is currently working as the bowling coach and mentor of the Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League (WPL), which won the inaugural season of the league. Earlier this year, Goswami was the team mentor at the Women's Caribbean Premier League franchise Trinbago Knight Riders. 

After retirement, Goswami has worked as a mentor for the senior Bengal women's team and has also been involved in the Women's Premier League.

Bengal defeated Himachal Pradesh by 21 runs in the second semi-finals of the Senior Women's T20 Trophy 2024 on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Bengal all-rounder Mita Paul was adjudged player of the match for her 1 wicket and 29 runs with the bat.

Batting first, Bengal struggled early, losing Dhara Gujjar on duck in the first over. But, Richa Ghosh, the Indian wicket-keeper batter promoted as the opener, made sure she built a partnership with vice-captain Tanushree Sarkar for the second wicket.

Richa departed after adding 31 from 28 balls but Tanushree battled in the middle to build another partnership for Bengal, this time with Mita Paul. Tanushree, who made her return to the Bengal team after representing Railways last few years, perished after scoring a run-a-ball 36.

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Mita Paul tried to take the inning deep but lost her wicket after scoring 30-ball 29. But, it was youngster Sasthi Mondal, whose 11 from 5 balls gave Bengal the finish they were looking for. Bengal finished their first inning on 134/6, giving Himachal a tough task to chase down the total under the lights at Wankhede. 

With a batting lineup consisting of international players like captain Sushma Verma and Harleen Deol, Himachal looked like the team which can chase down Bengal's total. However, Titas Sadhu struck early for Bengal as she removed Sushma Verma in the fourth over. Off-spinner Sushmita Ganguly then clean bowled Nikita Chauhan, to hand Bengal the momentum. 

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Though Himachal were trying to build a partnership and take the game deep, Bengal captain Saika Ishaque dismissed Sonal Thakur and Monika Devi in the same over to give Bengal the advantage. Despite a valiant effort from S M Singh (32 from 22 balls), Himachal fell short of the total by 21 runs. Saika Ishaque and Titas Sadhu took two wickets each for Bengal.

In the other semi-final, Mumbai defeated Uttarakhand by 31 runs to enter the final. Bengal and Mumbai will face each other in the final on 12th November at Wankhede Stadium from 4.30 pm IST.

A mega auction is to be held before the IPL 2025 season. This auction may take place in late November or early December this year.  But before that, all the 10 franchises will have to prepare and submit the list of their retained and released players. Its last date is tomorrow (31st October). 

Also Read: Delhi Capitals announce new Coaching Staff ahead of IPL 2025

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recently issued new rules regarding retention. According to this, a franchise can retain maximum of 6 players. If a team retains less than 6 players, then in that case the franchise will get a chance to use the Right to Match card during the auction. 

Speculations have started even before the official list of retained players is revealed. If reports are to be believed, Gujarat Titans (GT) may release Mohammed Shami and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul can join the IPL 2025 auction pool.  

Let's take a look at which players all 10 franchises can retain.

Also Read: IPL 2025 auction: IPL 2025-27 player retention policy explained

IPL 2025 probable retention list

Gujarat Titans

• Shubman Gill
• Rashid Khan
• Sai Sudarshan
• Shahrukh Khan
• Rahul Tewatia (RTM)

Lucknow Super Giants

• Nicholas Pooran
• Mayank Yadav
• Ayush Badoni
• Ravi Bishnoi (RTM)

KL Rahul is expected to be included in the auction pool.

Mumbai Indians

• Rohit Sharma
• Hardik Pandya
• Jasprit Bumrah
• Suryakumar Yadav
• Tilak Varma

Chennai Super Kings

• MS Dhoni (Uncapped) 
• Ruturaj Gaikwad
• Ravindra Jadeja
• Rachin Ravindra (possibly)
• Matheesha Pathirana

Sunrisers Hyderabad

• Pat Cummins
• Heinrich Klaasen
• Abhishek Sharma
• Travis Head
• Abdul Samad

Royal Challengers Bangalore

• Virat Kohli
• Mohammed Siraj
• Yash Dayal (conditional)

Delhi Capitals

• Kuldeep Yadav
• Axar Patel
• Rishabh Pant (DC wants to retain him, but there is a lot of talk about his inclusion in the auction pool) 

Kolkata Knight Riders

• Sunil Narine
• Rahmanullah Gurbaz
• Rinku Singh
• Harshit Rana

There is a big question mark on Shreyas Iyer as many players are ahead of him in KKR's priority list, but talks have taken place between Iyer and the KKR management.

Punjab Kings

• Arshdeep Singh 

Instead of retaining all the players, the Right to Match (RTM) can also be used.

Rajasthan Royals

• Sanju Samson
• Yashasvi Jaiswal
• Riyan Parag

 There is a big question mark over Jos Buttar due to injuries, so it will be interesting to see what RR does. 

BCCI men's selection committee announced the squads for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and India's tour to South Africa. Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy were among the few new names announced in the squads.

India will play a four-match T20 I series against South Africa starting on 8th November till 15th November 2024. Suryakumar Yadav will lead the team while Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson will be the senior players in the squad. Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Dayal, and Ramandeep Singh received their maiden T20I call-up.

Mayank Yadav and Shivam Dube were unavailable for the selection due to injuries. Meantime, Riyan Parag was sent to the BCCI Centre of Excellence to treat his his chronic right shoulder injury.

Indian squad for South Africa tour

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.

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For the high-profile Border-Gavaskar trophy, India named an 18-men squad with a few new names getting their maiden test call-up. Opener Abhimanyu Easwaran was rewarded for his excellent first-class form while Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy were called up as the pace bowling all-rounders. Kuldeep Yadav missed the selection due to his chronic left groin issue.

India's squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

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